Lehragaga MC to finally get a president after 2 years

Better late than never, Lehragaga municipal council would finally get a president and a vice-president after almost two years.

Better late than never, Lehragaga municipal council would finally get a president and a vice-president after almost two years.

Even though civic body elections are due towards the middle of the year, the district administration is all set to hold elections among the councillors to choose the functionaries of the civic body under orders from the Punjab and Haryana high court.

Deputy commissioner Kumar Rahul said, "The court has directed us to conduct elections for the post of president and others in April, but we are making arrangements to hold the elections in the last week of March."

The high court had directed the district administration to conduct elections for the two posts at the earliest, after taking note of a petition filed by Congress councillors.

Owing to the political rivalry between Congress and SAD-BJP councillors, the post of president has been lying vacant for the past one and a half years, while the chair of senior vice-president has been vacant for nearly four years.

Out of the 13 councillors, seven are from SAD-BJP combine, while six are from the Congress.

According to information, the councillors had many a time tied to elect a president and a senior vice-president, but had failed to make any headway.

Previous president Shivji Ram Koharia from the SAD was dethroned on July 29, 2011, while senior vice-president Balwinder Kaur had been removed from the post on July 21, 2009.

Projects come to a grinding haltLehragaga is the hometown and constituency of former Congress chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, but has deteriorated into a picture of complete neglect as developmental projects have come to a grinding halt since the past several years.

Despite the availability of adequate funds, Rs 2.5 crore, no major developmental project has been initiated, resulting in deterioration of roads and severe dilapidation of the sewerage system.

Though the district administration had constituted a five-member development committee in 2011, under the chairmanship of the sub-divisional magistrate, it was bogged down by an absence of consensus in the civic body house. The house has not met for the past two years.

Even the post of executive officer has been lying vacant for the past several years. Though the Patran municipal council has been given the additional charge of the town, the executive engineer visits once in a while to just clear tenders and complete other official formalities.